


Never Broken

by MaritheFangirl



Category: Errant Kingdom (Visual Novel)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23084074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaritheFangirl/pseuds/MaritheFangirl
Summary: The Ironbend siblings, while each had taken a different path in life, now converge in a twist of fate upon Novus. Isabel ascended to Knighthood, loyal to the hand she serves. Nicolao, serving Vih'thris as an Ambassador. Then there's Bea, the youngest sibling who's been missing for six years.The bonds of blood tie them, but their tumultuous relationships with each other are headed for a breaking point among the chaos of a new Kingdom and an assassination attempt.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I wrote this right around when the prologue came out, but I had these characters floating around my head for awhile before. I hope to keep pace with each chapter release. It follows each storyline of the game, so I wrote about where the storylines and characters intersect with each other. For the future, it should stick to the main story, and I'll just write about the interactions between these three characters, and any other deviations from the text.

Bea couldn’t believe their eyes.

Some trick, surely. Some hallucination. Perhaps Raiden had slipped them poison in their drink when they were in the tavern and they were seeing things.

Because there was no way that their brother was standing on that make-shift stage in front of all of those commoners.

And yet there he was, clothed in those lavish robes he always liked to wear, always done up so extravagant. Bea couldn’t even hear whatever speech he was saying, they were so focused on him.

Roux glanced at them, and they felt a pat on their arm.

“Are you alright?” they whispered.

Bea couldn’t take their eyes of Nicolao.

“I…” they trailed off, and as if another force was guiding them, their gaze shifted to the other nobles standing around.

And who was there guarding them, in her plate armor and face set in that serious expression that was oh so familiar?

Bea whispered, “ _Isabel_.”

Roux looked at them, their gaze falling to the knight as well.

“Do you know her?” Roux questioned.

Bea could only stand in a state of shock, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“I have to get out of here,” they whispered, feeling their head spinning.

There was no applause for their brother’s speech, but Bea couldn’t find themselves concerned about it. Roux lead them off to the side, and they pulled the Fae behind a building where they could catch their breath.

They leaned against the side of the building, bracing themselves as they took shallow breaths.

Roux’s head was tilted in concern, and Bea held on to them to keep themselves standing.

“I…I haven’t seen them in years,” the words rushed out, “I never thought I would again. To see them here, so far from home…”

They swallowed hard.

Roux’s eyes were bright, “Are they family?”

Bea nodded, closing their eyes.

“I-I…it would be wrong of me to ask this from you, and I claim no control over your actions, but I would prefer if this was kept between us, at least for now.”

Though they had no expectation that the Fae wouldn’t tell Raiden or Erik, but they made the request all the same.

“You didn’t want to say hello?” Roux asked, and Bea saw a flash of those pointed teeth.

Bea shook their head, “They’re a…complication. One I wish I didn’t have to deal with.”

They let out a long sigh.

Peaking around the side of the building, they saw Isabel take the nobles back, always on guard. They tried to spot their brother in the crowd, but found him noticeably absent. Then, they realized he was heading for the Pauper’s Crown, not far from where Roux and they were.

Bea pulled back, heart hammering in their chest. They looked up at the Fae, and motioned that they needed to leave. Roux nodded, and placed a finger to their lips, smirking behind it.

Bea pulled their hood up and took off through the city.

Nicolao almost tripped over himself as he walked down the set of stairs.

The lack of applause didn’t bother him, it was a dreadful, last minute speech anyway. No, it was the figure rushing away from the crowd. He had only caught a brief glimpse of them, but it was enough to send him reeling.

Since being with his sister this last while, Bea was on his mind more and more. That’s what it was, he was just imaging things.

The hooded stranger looked different, longer hair, taller than Bea.

A little voice in the back of his mind reminded him it had been 6 years since he had seen them, but he pushed that thought away.

Bea was a thought for another time. He had a former Knight Commander to speak to.

It was later that evening, when he was nursing a goblet of wine and looking over a few things in the library, when the door swung open. An imposing figure, standing far taller than him—she has always been taller than him, it wasn’t fair—was Isabel.

They made eye contact, and a beat of silence lasted a second. Isabel made to shut the door, but Nicolao held out a hand.

“Isa, dear, stay here,” he commanded.

She shot him a dark look but stayed her hand a moment longer.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he pointed out, tipping his goblet at her, “Please, sit and have a drink with me or something.”

“No.”

“I miss your company, we’ve only had a little bit of time together, but you haven’t spoken to me once since I arrived here,” he told her.

Isabel stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her.

“The more distance between us there is, the better,” she said firmly.

Nicolao sighed, “And that’s why you refuse to be called Knight Ironbend? Forsaking your name?”

“I am a knight of Novus. Ironbend is the name from Vih’thris. It’s your name, you finally get it all to yourself, like you’ve always wanted.”

Nicolao rolled his eyes.

“You’ve become implicated and fraught with rumors since your arrival,” Isabel hissed, “I will not have you take this away from me.”

Nicolao looked at her long and hard, “Am I to understand you believe those rumors?”

“Of course not,” Isabel answered, and a weight seemed to enter her shoulders, “I know you would never…but it doesn’t matter what I think, it’s about everyone else. They’ll see us, bound by blood, and it’s only natural to assume we would be in whatever plot together.”

“There’s no plot. I am here strictly as an Ambassador, just as you are here to serve as a Knight,” Nicolao insisted, and then let out a sigh, “It was just a comfort to know that my sister was here, someone I knew and could trust implicitly.”

He looked up at her, “Tell me I was right to be comforted by the thought.”

Isabel was silent.

He took a long drink.

“I’m still on duty,” Isabel said, “I’ll leave you to it, Ambassador Ironbend.”

Nicolao let out a weak laugh, “I won’t keep you, Knight Isabel.”

She gave him once last lingering look before she left, the door shutting with a little too much force.

He sighed, running his hands through his hair.

Maybe he should’ve mentioned seeing Bea, but he wasn’t sure if it was real. Isabel didn’t need that kind of pain either way.

He went back to his wine and his books.

Isabel finished up the night by doing a patrol of the garden. It was a special kind of beauty in the moonlight.

She tried to get the thoughts of her conversation with her brother out of her mind. She would not let him ruin this for her.

She scanned the bushes, it would be long past midnight.

She swore she heard something, a rustling in the undergrowth. She stepped forwards cautiously. Likely an animal of some sort, but she could never be too careful.

Before she could step deeper into the gardens, she heard a throat clear from behind her.

Isabel turned, and saw the demon, Lucien, watching her in amusement.

“Planning on trampling the flowers?” they asked, gesturing to her feet.

She glanced down, and realized she was, she carefully took a step back, but refused to show her embarrassment.

“Ambassador Veritas,” Isabel said, straightening, “It’s late.”

They shrugged casually, looking up at the moon, “Perhaps. I simply enjoy the gardens under the moonlight. Beautiful, is it not?”

“I…suppose,” Isabel said, and turned around again, intent on discovering what was in the bushes.

But the rustling had stopped, and she guessed whatever had been there was now gone.

She heard something to her left, over the garden wall. She glanced over and saw a flash of movement at the top of it. She rushed forwards, eyes trained on and hand gripping the hilt of her sword.

“Is hunting down squirrels that dare enter the palace gardens on you list of duties to, Knight?” Lucien commented, not bothering to disguise their teasing tone.

Isabel growled in the back of her throat, but refused to allow herself to blush.

She glanced back at the demon, that damn smirk on their face. She squinted her eyes at them, but their expression revealed nothing.

“Good night, Ambassador,” she said, with a tone of finality.

“Good evening,” Lucien told her.

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she had a gut feeling that they were hiding something, and that something had to do with whatever she had been searching for in the gardens.

Though what fool in their right mind would try and break into the palace gardens? Especially after an assassination attempt?

Perhaps it was just a squirrel after all.

She gripped the hilt of her sword once more before continuing on her patrol.


	2. Chapter One

The way Erik was staring at them, it really made Bea feel like they should leave.

The large, shirtless man shook his head, tossing his axe to the ground. 

“Is there some magical beacon above my cabin that calls all of the people of Vih’thris here?” Erik muttered, looking around for something to clothe himself with.

“What do you mean?” Bea asked, curiosity piqued, and the fact that he wasn’t shouting at them to get off his lawn, they took as an invitation to get closer.

“I’ve had three of you in the same day,” Erik told them, and narrowed his eyes at them curiously.

Their heart skipped a beat in their chest, “Who was here before me?”

He waved his arm in the vague direction of the palace, “The two new arrivals from your Kingdom. Ser Isabel and that Ambassador Ironbend.”

He grunted at the latter name, and Bea couldn’t blame him. 

“Wish they had just come together, saved me some time. They’re siblings right?”

Bea’s heart fully stopped this time, and they swallowed, head turned so Erik couldn’t see their face. They shrugged nonchalantly.

“Don’t know anything about them,” they lied.

Erik was giving them a scrutinizing look, and Bea was really hoping their years living as a rugged, lower class vagrant and spy were about to pay off. They knew they shared the colouring of their siblings, but their brother and sister lived in the castle, well taken care of. They had been on the move for years, and certainly wasn’t living in the lap of luxury. 

“You Vih’thrians really do stick out here,” Erik finally settled on.

Bea shrugged, and flashed a grin, “Unfortunately for me. Makes a spy’s job that much harder.”

That meant Roux hadn’t told him, unless he was trying to see if they would tell him themselves. But as nice as they found Erik’s company, they weren’t sure they were ready to entrust all of their secrets to him. 

The thought of their siblings standing right where they were right now likely not even a few hours earlier—it made their head spin. 

They normally liked sticky situations, but this was one they weren’t fond of being stuck in. 

Nicolao sipped on the wine, and tried his best not to pull a face. While palatable, the cheapness of it felt like a disgrace to his senses.

Lots of tittering merchants and minor nobles around, and he was good at pleasant smiles and making niceties. It was good to get out of that castle, and try and ingratiate himself into Novus, but he also felt himself longing for a chance to slip out there and get some sleep. He had slept fitfully the night before after Raiden had broken in. Cedric he had requested stay nearby. Clearly the security in the castle was severely lacking.

There was a servant in his peripheral vision, and he let out a sigh, holding out his empty goblet towards them, barely sparing them a glance.

“Fill this up, won’t you?” he asked in a drawl.

He lazily turned his gaze towards them.

And dropped the goblet on the floor.

There was no mistaking it. The eyes that stared back at him were his own, the greyish blue of his family. 

Bea’s eyes widened, and just as Nicolao opened his mouth, they vanished into the crowd.

Goblet long forgotten, it took everything in him not to take off after them in a sprint. He stared at the crowd, but it was bustling and he couldn’t make them out anywhere. 

He began his search, trying not to physically push past people in his hunt for his little sibling, but wherever they were, they were long gone now.

“Nicolao, are you well? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,” a pleasant voice said behind him.

He turned, to see Lady Maja standing there, concern marring her features.

“I…”

In a way he had.

When he had seen Bea at the speech, he thought he was just seeing things, the stress of the day. Someone who just looked like his missing little sibling. Now seeing them here again, tonight…was it in his head? Was he seeing ghosts? 

Maja took another step forward, “Are you alright? Do you need to leave?” 

He shook his head, “I…I need to find somebody. There’s someone at this party that I must…I have to…”

While normally composed and collected, he was quickly reduced to a stammering mess. He had been shaken, and was desperately trying to recover his wits.

“Who are you looking for?” Maja’s voice was still pleasant, but he knew she was watching him very closely. 

The words faltered in his mouth for a moment, as he considered his options. Maja had been nothing but a friend to him, but he wasn’t sure if revealing all the cards in his deck was the right move. 

He took a deep breath.

“There’s a person, younger than I, short dark brown hair, grey eyes. Fairly small. They’re not dressed like a noble.” 

Maja’s face was unreadable, “Do they have a name?”

He toyed with the notion of telling her, before finally giving in, “Their name is Bea.”

And there it was. A flicker of something in Maja’s eyes. Now that was something to be curious about. 

“I think I recall seeing someone of that description earlier this evening,” Maja told him, “But I didn’t speak with them.”

Perhaps they were real yet.

“Forgive me, my Lady,” Nicolao apologized, “I must take my leave. I have some searching to do.”

He gave a quick bow, before darting off into the crowd, hoping he wasn’t drawing too much attention as he searched for Bea.

Isabel had noticed the stranger speaking to Livia earlier in the evening. They had caught her attention simply because they were, well, speaking to Livia. She hadn’t gotten a clear look at them, but the simple act had been enough to warrant her remembering them.

So when she saw them once again leaving the party with Raiden of all people…

She supposed she couldn’t judge too harshly. After all, she had just set up a meeting with herself and the snake. This stranger would have been the one to draw his attention away from their conversation.

There was something about the stranger though, she couldn’t put her finger on it. Had she seen them around before? It was likely she just recognized them from somewhere else in the party but…

She was distracted by her brother wandering around the party, looking very strange.

She walked up to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the crowds.

“You look like an idiot wandering around out there,” she informed him.

He shot her a look, and was still looking around the crowd.

“Lost your date to this event? Lady Maja tire of you already?” Isabel asked.

Nicolao sighed, “No, no. It’s nothing.”

The tone of voice told her she wasn’t getting anything out of him tonight. She looked around. Like Raiden had mentioned, most people were too deep in their cups or too absorbed in themselves to notice what was going on around them. 

She wondered briefly if Nicolao had any information about her investigation. If he knew what she was doing, going after the assassin herself, who knew what he would say. 

But they were family, at the end of the day.

“Meet me in my room at midnight tonight,” she told him, releasing her grip on him a little too hard.

He brushed off where she had touched him, frowning, “That’s so late. Make it eleven and I’ll consider it.”

She rolled her eyes, “And what were you really doing wandering around like that? You were looking for something.”

“Just for a friend, that’s all,” he shrugged her off, “Why your sudden interest? You sounded like you wanted nothing to do with me the last time we spoke.”

“Maybe I’ve reconsidered.”

“Yeah, that means you want something from me,” he said with a sigh, “I’ll see you when the party’s over.”

Nicolao merged back with the crowd, still looking like he was looking around for someone.

Isabel had a lot of questions, and very few answers.

That would have to change.


End file.
